God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where you are standing now. – Sufi saying

Senegal: Something New

Finally, after almost 7 months in Asia, (India, Nepal, and Vietnam) I am off to someplace new – a place with desert and rainforest, Wolof and French, relative calm but growing economic disparity.

Senegal.

Africa itself isn’t new to me. I have been to Egypt twice and my Sicilian friends in Siracusa would have considered the 6 months I spent in the southeastern corner of the island as more legitimately African then European. But being in and below the Sahel, that is new to me and deliciously unlike anything I have encountered before.

The food, the aromas, the people… I have no idea what to even expect. I am trying to expect nothing, hoping that no expectations will allow me to absorb and figure out the place more quickly. Luckily I have friends here. Friends that can make up for the lack familiarity and make the place feel like home even before I have arrived.

Senegal – I have wanted to meet you for years. I am ready for something new, and you fit the bill to a tee. Hopefully we will get along just swimmingly.